


Thinking

by Whitejj01



Category: Original Work
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-03-02 07:22:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13313232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whitejj01/pseuds/Whitejj01





	Thinking

She jumped into the passenger seat and pulled the door shut behind her, already looking worried.

 

Did it matter that this was a completely fictional fantasy that I was (surprisingly) allowing myself to have? Nope. Not one bit. Details always matter.

 

I watched as she crossed her arms and curled up slightly in her seat.

 

"... I know what you need," I said, reaching over to the stereo. She tried to protest, but I did my best to gently shush her - I knew it would help, even if she didn't like it at that moment.

I grabbed my iPod and connected it to the audio port, selecting a country song, one that I knew applied right now.

 

"I don't need music right now, especially not country," she persisted, a little bit of stress imbued in her tone.

 

I pondered this for an instant. I wasn't going to win this part easily, and if it was going to stress her out too much, I wasn't going to do it at all.

 

"Here," I continued after a moment of quiet, "Pretend like the song isn't playing, and tell me what's wrong." I brought the volume down so it was below our conversation like a calming soundtrack.

I pressed play, and said, "Go ahead."

 

She unfurled - just a little - and took a small breath. "My generalized anxiety disorder is bothering me. Everything is stressful - like, even the little things," she said.

 

"What little things?" I prompted gently. I made sure every last inch of my body language was set to  _go on - it's okay, I'm listening._

 

"eh." She made a shrugging kind of noise. "Everything. Right now, it's the music. earlier, it was just getting ready for the day, and you texting me every five seconds."

 

\---

My brain automatically paused the environment, did an authenticity check on her speech patterns, and continued.

\---

 

"Mkay... what do you usually do to solve it?" I asked slowly, leaving plenty of space in my voice for her.

 

"I use thought interruption," she replied incredulously. "I try and focus on other things. Sometimes-"

 

\---

My brain hit a memory hiccup and auto-paused again. It rebooted her speech patterns, reloading the words I'd actually heard her say and splicing together words it hadn't and piling it all into the RAM again.  _Stupid Brain. Never enough RAM in here._

\---

"I use thought interruption," she replied again, slightly incredulous. 

"Like what... what do you interrupt with?" I continued, painfully aware that I was pushing one of both Virtual and Real Parker's touchy subjects.

 

"Anything... I don't really know right now," she said.

 

"Okay... well, it's probably not the same, but when I don't want to do something and I know my OCD will make it take longer, or make it harder, I listen to A.V.A. She just says in a gentle voice, 'just relax. It's okay.' that always seems to help."

She nodded, and I nodded back.

"Like, for example, if I'm cleaning random things up all over the place compulsively, and it's stressing me out, Ava just helps me decide whether or not it's important. If it isn't, even though it's hard for me, she helps me walk away from it, instead of trying to fix it over and over again forever."

She nodded again. "It's a little bit like that, but... I can't just choose not to brush my teeth. I mean, it won't help with the anxiety created by it."

"Hmmmm," I pondered. "Is there a deeper level to it? Like, is there an intrinsic reason it's stressing you out?"

"Maybe," she said discontentedly. "I don't... really wanna think about that, okay?"

 

There it was. I went too far. Again.

 

"Okay, I've had enough of this music," I said, clicking it off. It didn't end up helping after all. "I guess we'll just have to stick with the temporary fix for now, Miss Martin."

"What's... the temporary fix?" she asked, just a tiny hint of curiosity amidst the melancholy.

I scooted over towards her until we were almost touching. Then, ever so gently, I lifted one arm up to vertical and let it fall around her back. My hand ended up on her far shoulder, and I gently moved my thumb back and forth across the surface of it.

"The temporary fix is just me," I said nonchalantly. "Nothing much. I've always just felt like this helped me, so it might help you a little bit too."

"Okay," she said again.

I pulled on her gently, and her body tilted towards mine slightly. She fidgeted a little bit, which was okay.

"At the very least, it'll help keep you warm," I said, trying to brighten the mood a little. "It's kinda chilly up here."

Well, I won't lie - even in a fantasy environment, it felt nice to just sit there with her - doing nothing at all except feeling her shoulder rise and fall slightly. I did my best to send waves of calm out to her while she toiled over whatever was inside that brain of hers.

 

\--Simulation Ended--

 


End file.
